In Store
In Novokuznetsk, a coal mining town in Siberia, a morgue worker
posted a video in which he appeared to walk on bodies in bags.
They were so tightly packed in a corridor that there seemed no other way to get through.
“This is the hallway,” said the worker, who did not identify himself.
“There are corpses all over. You can fall down walking here,
you can trip over them. I have to walk on their heads.”
— 26 Oct. 2020
At night he feels them the heads
underfoot difficult to walk on
hard not to stumble over
in the narrow ill-lit hallway of corpses
each in a black plastic contractor bag
their feet sticking out laces untied
this acting chairman this president
this prime minister now this supreme leader
a name he doesn’t object to
He’s left them for other to deal with
They are so treacherous
underfoot the heads especially
Especially in Siberia
the dead don’t go away
The dead who have the last say
the dead who speak for the dead
When he is dead
there’ll be no getting around it
he won't be purged or expunged or reviled
He'll be left entirely to himself
For the special ones shame may come to life
Up here where the sun’s still shining
no one will hear him cry
and no children will die in the streets